Dallas, Texas, December 8 - New smart home research from Parks Associates shows 30% of U.S. broadband households intend to purchase a smart lightbulb by end of 2015, while 17% intend to buy a smart kitchen appliance and 14% plan to purchase a smart thermostat. The research firm will discuss strategies for utilities, service providers, and manufacturers to integrate these smart products into their home systems and services at Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, February 22-24 in Austin, Texas.

"The top five brands of lightbulb manufacturers - GE, Philips Hue, INSTEON, Belkin, and LIFX - make up 78% of the market for smart lightbulbs, which is the fastest-growing category of smart home devices," said Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates. "Adding connectivity leads to unique use cases in traditional product categories - owners can use a smartphone not just to control a smart lightbulb but often can change colors, add additional security, or create lighting scenes in a connected home. We will see even more experimentation and new use cases emerging from these and other categories in 2016."

The seventh-annual Smart Energy Summit features panel discussions with utilities, telecom and security companies, retailers, and OEMs. These leading companies in the smart home markets will discuss key developments, technology advancements, partnership opportunities, and pilot projects to promote demand response, energy efficiency, and interoperability.

"The Smart Energy Summit is one of my favorite events of the year because it sits right at the intersection of technology, consumer, and the companies - whether startups, utilities, or Fortune 500s - trying to figure out where the IoT market is heading," said Matt Tolliver, VP of Business Development, EcoFactor. "I can't think of an event where I learn more or make better contacts than the Smart Energy Summit."

"Making consumers smarter is as important as making homes smarter," said Dave Oberholzer, VP, Business and Partner Development, WeatherBug Home. "Effective partnerships have to not only quietly automate and optimize connected devices, they must engage, inform, and delight consumers on what matters to them."

"Historically employed as a last resort on the most extreme weather days of the year, new technologies enable demand response to be used as a year-round operational resource offering unparalleled predictability, reliability, and flexibility," said Erin Keys, Director, Business Development and Strategy, Comverge. "The rise of operational demand response can help utilities address critical emerging challenges, such as alleviating constrained load pockets and efficiently integrating distributed energy resources. I look forward to presenting at the Smart Energy Summit and helping utilities understand how to implement these next-generation demand response programs."

"Customers now have the opportunity to get a deep understanding into their energy usage, and I'm excited at the range of personalized insights enabled through smart meter data as well as connected devices in the home that will allow customers to maximize the information and control of their energy usage," said Shuchi Roy, Director, Innovation Strategy, Direct Energy.

360 View Update: Smart Product Adoption shows smart lightbulbs are the leading category for future smart home purchases, followed by smart home/kitchen appliances, and then smart thermostats, smart blinds/drapes, and smart power strips are tied for third.

"The emerging smart home device categories, such as sprinkler controllers and blinds, are more fragmented," Sikes said. "Startups are gaining share in multiple product categories as industry veterans work to keep pace with the now rapidly evolving market."

Smart Product Adoption evaluates the trends in smart product adoption, assesses consumer preferences for different channels to market, and identifies the impact of different demographic attributes on adoption of smart home products. Parks Associates analysts will discuss this research at Smart Energy Summit, which features the following keynotes:

More information about the Smart Energy Summit is available at www.SES2016.com. To request specific research data, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com or 720-987-6614.

About Smart Energy Summit
Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer examines the expanding market for the smart home and the role of energy solutions within the Internet of Things. The event presents strategies for utilities, service providers, retailers, and manufacturers to expand and monetize their energy devices and services by engaging consumers, developing new business models, and creating unique partnerships.

The seventh-annual Smart Energy Summit will take place February 22-24, 2016, at the Omni Hotel in Austin, Texas. Follow the event on Twitter at @SmartEnergySmt and on the Smart Energy Insights Blog. For information on speaking, sponsoring, or attending Smart Energy Summit, visit www.ses2016.com.